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My college is throwing me a book party!

Bethany Reid Book Signing May 22

English instructor Bethany Reid will read from her recently published poetry collection and sign copies of her book May 22 at Everett Community College.

All employees are invited to the celebration from 4 to 6 p.m. May 22 at EvCC’s Nippon Business Institute, 905 Wetmore Ave. at the main campus.

Reid, who teaches American literature and creative writing, will read from “Sparrow,” winner of the 2012 Gell poetry prize. 

“What struck me first when I read ‘Sparrow,’ straight through from beginning to end because I could not stop reading, was the quiet aliveness and sensuality of the poems,” wrote Dorianne Laux in the book’s foreword. “Nothing in ‘Sparrow’ is overdone or overstated, and so the poems feel utterly timeless…”  

Reid, also the author of the poetry chapbook “The Coyotes and My Mom,” earned the 2011 Lois Cranston Memorial Prize for her poem, “The Apple Orchard.” Her poems have appeared in numerous journals. She is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Washington, where she also earned a doctorate in American Literature. She blogs at http://awritersalchemy.wordpress.com/

My 13-year-old has been doing art doodles. I have found her at our local elementary school playground drawing them in a notebook. She usually holes up in her bedroom to draw. At one of our homework dates recently she talked me into buying her a cool sketchbook and sharpies. I recently found this photo on Facebook (and the doodles, yes, on her legs).

On impulse I bought her this book: How to Be an Explorer of the World, by Keri Smith. (Check out her very cool blog.) I haven’t decided whether or not to save it for her July birthday. Maybe graduation? Maybe now is a good time.

I am choosing to see this as all good. As Keri advises today, “Keep Calm.”